Leverage Your iPhone or iPad to View PowerPoint Presentations

Sure, Apple's Keynote presentation app has enabled folks to create and share presentations with their iPhones and iPads for a while now. But let's face it: a very large portion of business users still use PowerPoint for their presentation needs.

While there are a number of ways for at least viewing the content of PowerPoint presentations on iOS devices, SlideShark goes above and beyond by providing a platform that maintains all of your presentation elements, including animations, links, videos, fonts, etc. It links with cloud storage services like Box and Dropbox to facilitate quick and easy uploading. Plus, it boasts a pretty slick UI, complete with a laser pointer feature, a timer, and great presentation remote features for easily driving an onscreen presentation from your device.

Pricing and Availability

SlideShark is only available on iOS devices. The good news is that the free version of the app likely offers enough functionality to be a no-brainer for most business users. There are, of course, premium versions that offer more features, such as extra storage and administrative capabilities for organizations.

Track and Report Your Mileage with Your Phone

Businesspeople who have to track mileage for work tend to get tired of keeping track of each trip manually with a pen and paper. As a business whose workforce is constantly driving to client locations, we've been there.

Thankfully, TripLog, an easy-to-use smartphone app, now allows us to track mileage automatically. TrippLog regcords mileage by utilizing the GPS functionality of the user's smartphone. You can either start and stop the tracker manually--or plug the phone in to log trips without even touching a button. Once plugged in, the app will automatically begin tracking mileage when your car begins to go over 5 miles per hour, which is handy--provided that you're in the habit of plugging your phone into a car charger.

TrippLog also includes great reporting capabilities. It will automaticaly figure in a reimbursement rate against the miles you drive on the job, allowing you to submit reports to your company via the app. All of this is why 3n1media engineers use TrippLog to easily and efficiently keep track of and submit their mileage.

Pricing and Availability

TripLog follows the "fremium" pircing model. So the app itself, along with it's core features, is free. Extra features, such as greater reporting capabilities, are available as in-app purchases for nominal fees. TripLog is available on iOS and Android devices.

How often do you present information in meetings using a Microsoft Office product? For most business users, the answer is likely "very often," despite the recent proliferation of other viable options. If you have a smartphone running Windows Phone 8, Microsoft's Office Remote app allows you to control presentations of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files from your PC. By connecting to your PC via Bluetooth, Office Remote lets you change PowerPoint slides, scroll through Word documents, and jump around in Excel spreadsheets. Our testing showed that the app actually works quite well, with good responsiveness over bluetooth.

Availability and Pricing

The good news is that Office Remote is free. The bad news is that its availability is limited. Not only is it only available on the Windows Phone 8 platform, but it also only works with Microsoft Office 2013--not with Office 2013 RT or earlier versions of Office. Still, if users have both Office 2013 and a Windows smartphone, this free app is probably a no-brainer.

While providing network support, our own Michael Maxwell utilized Zamurai, our App of the Week a couple weeks back, to create a professional network topography diagram on the fly for a Nashville, TN company. Check it out here.

Does your technology strategy include a continuity plan? If not, you may want to consider something like Bria, an app that lets people make and receive calls from their office line on their mobile device. Learn how it helped our Nashville, TN tech consulting company when we needed it most.

Jason Hardy, Manager of Client Relations and Social Media, who works out of our Nashville, TN IT support office, shares how HelloSign, our App of the Week from a few weeks ago, opened up new possibilities for his workflow.

Because we provide custom business IT solutions in Nashville, TN, we’re always on the lookout for helpful apps. This week, we’re featuring Zamurai, an app designed to allow your iPad to replace the whiteboard, napkin, or piece of paper as a medium for idea creation. Check it out here.